Dirty Dancing with a Dirty Dog
by D'Rossi
Summary: If you've ever wondered what Shigure's temper would be like and what it would take to set it off, this is the place to find out. Romance, dangerous situations, strange behavior and the chance for a new beginning in a way they never expected. Plz review!


Hello, buenos dias/tardes/noches, bonjour, buongiorno,konnichiwa and happymystery meat day!

This is my second fanfic (yea me!). I hope all who read this enjoy this as much or more than the first oneI wrote.

Oh, and as always, I do not own Fruits Baskets or the characters therein. Unfortunately, I don't get to be that awesome...

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It was one of those rare moments. The house was completely devoid of people, save Tohru. Yuki left earlier in the day, gone to stay with his brother for a week (and hopefully not harm him in the process) before he went off to University. Kyo was in week two of his three week journey with Shishou, before he started going to University part-time and teaching the beginner classes at the dojo. _**(dunno why I'm so semi-obsessed with this particular scenario… I promise one day I'll find another one.) **_Shigure left in the early afternoon to go to a book signing out of town, mostly likely staying the night at a hotel and returning sometime the next day.

Trying to take full advantage of the situation, Tohru pushed back all the furniture in the living and began to stretch, hoping to calm her nerves as well as get ready for her new job. Two weeks ago, Tohru quit her job cleaning office in the building Momiji's father owned. This was ten minutes after she got hired at her new job, which offered more hours and higher pay, something she was looking for if she was to pay for and attend University.

Her new job was as a 'hired gun' (of sorts) at a dance club, one of several girls (and a few guys) paid to dance with some of the patrons and getting them to buy drinks as the 'hired guns' flirted with them, as well as performing a few dances on occasion. On real busy days, she'd have to help keep the tables clean and prevent them from running out of clean cups as well.

The requirements for this job were that the girls/guys be attractive and be able to dance well enough to get the other patrons to dance with them, which didn't really matter, cuz if they were cute, they were gonna come dance anyway… At least, that's how the owner seemed to explain it to Tohru.

Tohru got up and chose the CD Uotani had given her to practice with. As the music began to pour out, she went over the routine Mikawa-chan had taught her, hearing her words again… _'jus' listen to the music for a bit then do the steps I showed ya. After that, see where the music takes ya. Go at your own pace and you'll be fine, sweetface.' _

After about the second verse, Tohru was starting to get into it. Mikawa-chan was right—once you got into it, you don't really care what you're doing. It's about having fun. Unfortunately for Tohru, her fun was about to be over. The current song had a rather 'sinuous' rhythm to it _**(you know, the kind that makes you wiggle. Please forgive my bad descriptions :-P)**_ So she was in the midst of snaking her body when Shigure walked into the house.

Shigure, as most of us know, has a comment (dirty or otherwise) for every occasion. Tonight, he had a delayed response. Shock at what he had stumbled upon, glee at what he was seeing, and delightful guilt because she hadn't seen him yet. So after a few moments, he decided to have mercy on Tohru and let her know she was no longer alone.

'My, my, my,' the dog declared, hiding a grin behind his fan as Tohru's hair stood out on end. 'So this is what my little flower does when no ones home,' he said as he came further into the house, to better enjoy Tohru turning beet red as she sputtered several unintelligible responses. 'Perhaps I should come home early more often…'

'Oh, but, I wasn't---it's not---I was just—'

'Fear not, my lovely flower. Your secret's safe with me. I shall die a thousand deaths before I divulge that which you have entrusted me with.' The author opined, grabbing Tohru's hand, sincerity pouring from his eyes.

'Th-thank you, Shigure-san' Tohru stuttered, as the blush died down to two red spots on her cheeks.

Before the dog could continue to tease her, simply because he could and because he loved the end result, his stomach gave a loud rumble and Tohru a very welcomed out.

'Oh, Shigure-san is hungry! I'll cook dinner—'

'And I'll move the furniture back. Really, it's no problem,' cutting off her objections before she could voice them.

'Oh, but you shouldn't…'

'I rather I did than risking my delicate flower hurting one petal upon her being,' the dog replied with a very chaste kiss to her hand.

Not trusting herself to really speak, she scurried into the kitchen, squeaking out that dinner would be ready soon.

With a small chuckle, Shigure quickly set the room to rights, his physique in better shape than most would suspect of the lazy writer. Then he lounged upon the couch as his mind made liberal use of rewind and freeze frame as he replayed Tohru's dancing.

In the kitchen, when she wasn't chopping and stirring, Tohru unconsciously kept touching the hand that Shigure had kissed while he words still played in her mind.

After a she almost burned fish, she managed to snap out of her reverie long enough to finish dinner without incident. She then put most of her focus on setting the table and setting out the food without really looking at Shigure.

Once they were settled at the table, Tohru began to feel awkward, for reasons as yet unknown to her. And knowing full well Shigure would shortly pick up on it, cuz he always does, she opted to talk her way through dinner. It was her only chance at avoiding him asking questions since Yuki and Kyo weren't there to run interference.

"Um, Shigure . . . what happened to your book signing?"

"Oh, Tohru it was _horrible,_" the dog wailed. "Everything was all set; there were dozens of people waiting in line for the opportunity to gaze upon my visage and the honor of obtaining my autograph when . . . IT happened."

"What?"

"Some illiterate slob in back was taking a smoke in the reference area when he fell asleep and the cigarette fell out of his mouth on the book. And not just _any _book, but one of _my_ books, no less. Well, the book caught in his lap and when it woke him up, he screamed, threw the book at a book shelf and _that_ caught fire. He panicked again and ran. By that time, we were being forced to evacuate that towering inferno, fleeing from the flames that seemed to dog our every step, the thick, black smoke depriving us of the little oxygen we had left to breathe before we managed to find our way out, mere seconds before the whole building collapsed."

_**(Since this is Shigure, it almost goes without saying that he's ly…stops as Shigure whispers in ear sighs Fine, I'll do it your way. rolls eyes Shigure was using 'artistic license'. Everything was true up to the evacuation.)**_

"Oh, no! Was anybody hurt?"

"No, thank goodness. So, I had no choice to leave all my fans heartbroken and soot-covered, without the autograph they had traveled untold miles have."

"Oh, no! All those poor people…"

"Indeed…Tohru?"

"Yes, Shigure-san?"

"It's awfully late. Shouldn't you be at work already?"

"Oh! Um, well, you see I took the next few days off because no one would be around to walk me home and I didn't want to trouble anyone at the main house, like Hatori-san, by asking one of them to take me home and I remember how upset you all got the time I ended up walking home alone because the three of you were so busy that the time just got away from you and you all felt so bad about it I thought I should just stay home."

"So you're not leaving?" the dog asked as the unexpected reality of the situation (him actually being alone, with no interruption, with Tohru) began to hit him.

But before he could begin to fully appreciate all the possibilities, Tohru burst his bubble.

"Yes, but not for work. I'm going out with Uo-chan and Hana-chan. They said I need to relax and party for a change and remember I'm a young woman."

"That you are," he agreed.

"I better get going. My friends are going to be here soon."

With that, she scurried off, quickly cleaning the table and putting the kitchen to rights. After checking the clock, she quickly got ready, wearing a yellow miniskirt over blue leggings, red strappy shoes with a kitten heel **(she **_**is **_**kinda klutzy)**, and blue halter with a white crop jacket.

She ran around the house, making sure everything was okay and that she had everything she needed for the night. Meanwhile, Shigure was, for once, trying _not_ to enjoy the show. To first come home to a rather grown-up dancing Tohru then to see her scurry around the house in a very colorful, yet Rin-like outfit was almost too much for the dog to handle. So he tried to read the paper, but really using it as a shield to protect his eyes. This was to Tohru's advantage. So when it came time to go and she said her friends were waiting for her outside, Shigure just waved goodbye without a glance.

Tohru opted not to push her luck and walked/ran as fast as she could before someonecaught her in one of her first serious lies.

Tohru's first day of work was a learning experience for her. She got to see people in varying states of drunkenness, she found out that more often than not, it's no big deal if you bump into someone on the dance floor and that bowing in apology will likely result in getting bopped by a flailling arm. She was glad she took Mikawa-chan's(also known as Mika-chan)advice about Lucky. Lucky was the bartender and after she told him she had never had a drink before, he kindly agreed to make all her drinks were booze-free, as Mikawa-chan suggested. Tohru worried about doing that once she found out that they'd still charge the for the liquor she wasn't drinking. They told her it was okay, that the liquor she didn't drink went into somebody else's drink, be it the buyer or some other complete stranger. The bottom line was that they (the customers) were buying drinks for a complete stranger, soit doesn't really matter _which_ stranger it is.It was a good thing too, because several men in the bar/club wound up buying her 'drinks' all night.****Tohru couldn't believe how much water, juice and pop she drank that night.

Tohru got a several looks, one for being cute and two for being a new face. After a while and talking to Mika-chan, she got almost accustomed to it, the looks she received. The only bad thing was the constant look she swore she was getting from some unknown and as yet unseen being. Since she couldn't find a face to confirm that she was being watched, she tried not to worry about it.

Had she seen the spiky hair young man that was the cause of her discomfort, she would have knownthat she had reason to worry. 

Her secret was about to get out.


End file.
